Last semester my students and I started a new tradition of taking a class selfie during the final exam period. This semester I had a selfie stick that I bought for the occasion! These class selfies are below! Enjoy! I… Read More ›
Higher Education
Teaching Tip: The Pop Quiz to Top All Pop Quizzes Ever!
Today as my students in Mexican American History II and then in Texas History entered the classroom I announced that we were going to have a pop quiz and that this pop quiz would top all pop quizzes ever, anywhere…. Read More ›
Students should enroll in LGBT courses.
This article authored by me was originally published in The Daily Cougar, Monday, April 10, 2017, and can be found here. What does it really mean to be LGBT? Have there always been LGBT peoples? What does it mean when we say… Read More ›
Will + Skill ≠ Success: Intersectionality, Student Depression, and Reality
In their introduction to college textbooks, Sherrie Nist-Olejnik and Jodi Patrick Holschuh explain to students that college success can be achieved with the appropriate skill and will. In other words, they argue that if you know how to read, study, and write… Read More ›
11 reasons why I go by “Dr. Pegoda” in the classroom (and professionally, depending on the circumstances):
1. “Dr. Pegoda” is fully gender neutral. Decolonizing my gender is apparently a life-long process. 2. For a number of reasons, I have never liked “Mr. Pegoda.” (Following conventions, I used “Professor Pegoda” before finishing my doctorate, never “Mr. Pegoda.”)… Read More ›
Hidden Agendas?: STEM, Women, and Sexism
This evening it occurred to me (when I wasn’t trying to have any new ideas!) that it would be worth thinking through the recent specific emphasis on STEM programs (I first heard about this push in 2011) and its cultural,… Read More ›
What do our students actually need? And other thoughts related to the politics of teaching.
They need to be challenged, really challenged and pushed beyond their limits. They need working understandings of how everything is culturally constructed and subjective, including the system of education they are in. They need the confidence, skill, and understanding to have difficult conversations… Read More ›
